


Keluarga Cemara(ng)

by stardustandfantasies



Series: Expanded Kindergarten AU [4]
Category: Padz and Friends (Webcomic)
Genre: Drabble Collection, Expanded Kindergarten AU, F/M, Family Dynamics, Gen, Genderswap, M/M, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2019-08-26 08:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16678099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustandfantasies/pseuds/stardustandfantasies
Summary: An assortment of drabbles and one-shots about Keluarga Cemara(ng) in EKAU.





	1. Hereditary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein Eldar had a misunderstanding, Evren enlightened him with Mendelian principles, and their parents were amused.

"Mama?" Eldar asked. He was perched on his mother's lap, reading the science book that Uncle Keenan and Aunt Ula gifted to him.

"Yes, El?" Leony answered, herself reading a journal on her laptop. Across them, Evren was busy with his homework.

"What's my blood type?"

"O. Why?"

"So Mama's type is O?"

"No, mine is A."

"Oh. ... Is Papa's O?"

"No, his is B, I think. Why?"

"But..." Eldar's voice started to waver, "mine is different from yours and Papa's..."

"Yes." His mother was still focused on her screen. "What's the matter?"

"So El is not Mama and Papa's real son?"

This time, Leony stopped reading to look at her son. "Eldar, it's—"

But Eldar had somehow jumped into the conclusion that he wasn't his parents' real child and accordingly burst into tears.

"Oh dear." Leony took Eldar's reading material from his hand and glanced at it. The colourful book was open on a page about blood types, in which it was explained that children got their blood types from their parents.

She would have laughed and waved off her baby boy's misunderstanding with an explanation if he weren't already bawling and babbling, which sounded like a plea to Mama and Papa to not return him to the garbage bin they took him from. She briefly wondered where he got that bizarre idea from and made a mental note to correct his gravely mistaken view on adoption later. For now, her concern was calming him down. 

"Shhh, baby." She hugged Eldar and pressed a kiss on his forehead. "It's not like that."

"Actually, El," Evren chimed in from across the table, "children can have different blood types from their parents. Mine is AB, it's also different from Mama and Papa's."

"But," Eldar sobbed, still unconvinced, " _Broer_ got the A from Mama and the B from Papa?"

"You're almost correct, but you also got your O from Mama and Papa. There's a scientific explanation for that. I'll show you."

Evren proceeded to explain how genes worked, drawing a Punnet diagram on his paper to demonstrate that it's possible that parents whose blood types are A and B have children whose types are AB and O. Leony wasn't sure how Eldar's three-year-old brain was receiving the information. But Evren had probably taught her more than she had taught him, so she contented herself with caressing her younger son's hair.

Eldar did gradually cease crying, so Evren's explanation seemed to have been effective. His concern, however, was more prosaic than ABO alleles.

"So I'm really Mama and Papa's son, right?" he asked in between his remaining sobs.

"Of course you are." Leony smiled reassuringly. "You and _Broer_ both."

Eldar, now sufficiently convinced, hugged his mother. "Sorry, Mama."

His mother pressed a kiss on his dark hair. "It's okay, El."

And everything was okay again in Eldar's little world.

* * *

"Isn't it fun raising geniuses?" Eka said amusedly after Leony told him what happened later at night, in bed.

"Where have we gone wrong, I wonder," she said dryly.

He shrugged. "Don't ask me, you're the one they got their brains from."

"I'm quite sure I was just an ordinary kid, though."

"Really? I'd have thought you've always been amazing."

"And you've always been lame?" She gave him a look of fond exasperation that she always threw at him whenever she thought he's being very silly.

Eka laughed. It's a look he could never pretend to not like, just like she couldn't hide her smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Evren is "Broer", Dutch for brother. Leony and Eka initially wanted to call Evren "Kakak", but then Tri commented to Evren that he's going to be "een goede broer". Evren liked "broer" better than "kakak" and insisted on being called "Broer" after that.
> 
> Eka as a noisy, over-the-top dad with a gifted kid and a snarkastic wife who are both So Done with him was meant to be a running gag. Eldar wasn't even originally supposed to be a part of this Keluarga Cemara(ng) and was only added because of Evren. But the more I think about it, the more I'm emotionally invested...


	2. Favourites

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was a truth universally acknowledged that parents were not supposed to love one child over the others, but children played favourites, and rather cruelly so. Despite being much more advanced than most kids his age, little Evren was not an exception.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This drabble owes its existence to an Instagram post by @father_of_daughters.
> 
> also pls help I'm too emotionally invested in Keluarga Cemara(ng) somebody call 911

It was a truth universally acknowledged that parents were not supposed to love one child over the others, but children played favourites, and rather cruelly so. Despite being much more advanced than most kids his age, little Evren was not an exception.

The boy was sprawled on the living room carpet reading a book when Eka came home. He tried to hug and kiss his son, but Evren's response was to hit his father repeatedly with his tiny fists, shouting, "Go away, Papa! Go back to work!"

Leony picked up her two-year-old, thus sparing poor Papa the torture. "Evren, don't be mean to Papa."

Evren pouted. "It was all good when there's only me and Mama at home."

Eka looked up from where he was crouching on the floor with a kicked-dog expression. "Evren—"

Evren glowered at him. "Papa. I'm talking to Mama, not you. You keep quiet."

"Evren, you're making Papa sad. That's not good," Leony admonished, though the corners of her mouth were twitching from trying to suppress laughter.

"But Papa is always noisy and annoying, and that's also not good."

Leony couldn't deny Evren's logic, so she switched strategies. "How about you be nice to Papa now and for the rest of this week, then on Saturday we go somewhere and do whatever you want to do. Just the two of us."

"No Papa?"

"No."

"Can we have gelato?"

"If that's what you want, yes."

Evren shot one last glare at his father before agreeing, "Okay, Mama."

And so Evren behaved very civilly to Papa for the rest of the week, though he still squirmed when Eka tried to hug or kiss him.

* * *

More undignified was the way Evren treated his Papa relative to Uncle Jie.

Evren liked his uncles much more than he liked his Papa. He adored Uncle Keenan, who though he wouldn't admit it adored the boy as well, and always bought Evren interesting toys and books. He coolly approved of Uncle Ijul; he was a bit like his Papa, but he was a) less noisy, and b) Mama's favourite brother. Eka suspected that Evren liked him even less than Uncle Martin, who was far away somewhere in the middle of Pacific Ocean and whom Evren had only heard about from Leony's stories.

But Uncle Jie was Evren's favourite uncle and also favourite person at the moment—and the boy always made it obvious to his Papa.

"No, Uncle Jie, don't go home yet!" Evren tugged at the sleeves of Miko's jacket.

"Uncle Cece has to go home, baby boy," Eka intervened. "And you need to go to bed."

"Nooo! I want Uncle Jie, not Papa!" Evren demanded. "Uncle Jie, tuck me in bed."

Miko had a weakness for little children, especially those who adored him. "Okay, Evren. I'll stay."

"Jie, can you help Evren get ready for bed?" Leony gave him an apologetic look. "He won't sleep otherwise."

"Sure. Come, Evren." Miko lifted the toddler. "Let's get your teeth brushed."

"Uncle Jie, why aren't you my Papa?" asked Evren. "Mama should've married you, not Papa."

Grinning, Miko turned to Leony. "What do you think? Should we kick Eka out of the house?"

"Cece, you backstabber!" Eka yelled, hugging Leony from behind protectively "First you steal my son, now you're going to steal my wife and my house too? Over my dead body!"

"Stop it, you two." Leony sighed.

Sometimes it felt as if she had not one, but _three_ sons.

* * *

Evren's no-Papa mode ceased after his little brother was born, mostly because Eka's attention had largely shifted to the newest addition to their family. It helped that Eldar was much more appreciative of Papa's affection than his _Broer_.

"This is for you, Papa." Eldar showed his father a piece of drawing he did in his nursery school class. "Look. This is me and this is Papa."

The amorphous brownish blobs barely had any resemblance with them, but Eka thought it was a masterpiece anyway.

"Thank you, El." He hugged his son and kissed his forehead. "Love you."

Giggling, Eldar circled his chubby arms around his father's neck. "I love Papa more!"

Nearly choking on a feeling of pure joy, Eka declared, "Love you the most!"

Evren—now almost eight years old—groaned.

Leony could only shake her head, though she was smiling.


	3. Pretense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Uncle Fen, who is this?"
> 
> "This is my friend, Uncle Arthur."
> 
> "Is he your boyfriend?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meet Stephen "Fen" Setiadi (male!Sedes HAHA so technically he's not really an OC), Leony's ex, and his boyfriend, Arthur Tjung; two latest additions to the ensemble of Evren and El's uncles. Too many uncles (7!!!) and too few aunts (only 2!!!) thanks to celibate aroace uncles Martin and Miko, gay uncles Stephen and Arthur, and straight-uncles-who-are-yet-to-get-married Satya and Kevin (Stephen's younger bro, whom Leony and he babysat when they dated). So many uncles and so few of them are straight. (Julian might be bi.) I pity Leony, but I'd like to think that she has more than enough girl friends from Sanur and dentistry (a now women-majority field) to make up for the strain of having to deal with so many (and mostly dumb) boys. Plus Ursula and Stella make the most awesome girl friendships.

While Arthur spent his winter visiting Stephen in Jakarta, his "ex and her hot hubby" (Arthur sighed at this) invited them over to their place. 

Leony was an impassive-looking (Stephen's type might have shown even before he came out) and slender woman who, though rather tall, appeared tiny next to her husband, who towered over all of them. Arthur begrudgingly admitted (to himself, there's no way he'd tell Stephen) that Eka had a body to die for, and thought a little miserably at the weight he had been putting on, especially around his waist. He tried to comfort himself by remembering that Stephen considered his "love handles" (as he called them) adorable.

Leony and Eka had two young sons who, if the age gap between them were smaller than five years, would've looked like twins: nearly identical combinations of their father's dark hair and their mother's bright eyes (and prominent eyebrows). The older boy politely introduced himself as Evren, age seven. His younger brother, Eldar, immediately rushed toward Stephen upon seeing him and climbed onto his lap, screaming, "Uncle Fen!"

"Hello, El!" Stephen picked Eldar up. "You're getting so big."

" _Broer_ doesn't think so!" Hugging Stephen's neck, Eldar giggled. "He always says El is too small to play with him."

"You're big, but I'm bigger," Evren said.

Arthur looked at Stephen. "Uncle Fen?"

"El's nickname for me from the time he couldn't pronounce 'Stephen' yet."

"Cute."

The two-year-old looked at Arthur curiously. "Uncle Fen, who is this?"

"This is my friend, Uncle Arthur."

"Is he your boyfriend?"

The adults went silent at Evren's question.

"Evren," Leony began, but a smile was slowly spreading in Stephen's face.

"Yes, Evren." He looked at Arthur. "He is."

Arthur smiled, too, and reached for Stephen's left hand. "I am."

"I see," Evren said, his little face all seriousness.

Leony and Eka had the same bewildered look on their faces. Eldar was confused.

"But Uncle Fen is a boy?" he asked.

"Boys can like boys too," Evren said matter-of-factly.

Boys can like boys too," Eka said. "Some boys only like girls, some boys only like boys, some boys like both." Eldar's little face scrunched in thought. Stephen was obviously amused by this turn of events. Arthur tried to think of an explanation and failed. But Eldar didn't need one anyway. "Uncle Fen is going to marry Auntie Arthur?"

Everyone laughed but Evren, who corrected his little brother, "El, it's  _Uncle_  Arthur, not Auntie Arthur."

"But people who married uncles are called aunties? Like Uncle Keenan and Auntie Ula, and Uncle Ijul and Auntie Tella."

"Auntie Ula and Auntie Stella are women. Uncle Arthur is a man."

"Oh. Okay. So are you uncles going to get married?"

"Maybe, El." Stephen grinned at Arthur. "But in Australia, not here."

"Why?"

"In Indonesia, men can only marry women. Men cannot marry men and women cannot marry women."

"Oh... But it's in Indonesia? In Australia, Uncle Fen and Uncle Arthur can get married?"

"Yes, El," Arthur said, softly, much to his own surprise. "We can get married in Australia."

Eldar beamed. "When you get married, can I carry the ring?"

Arthur looked to the boy's parents for help. "Carry the ring?"

"We went to a friend's wedding last week," Leony explained. "A boy who's a little older than Eldar was the ring-bearer."

"He wants to be a ring-bearer now," Eka supplied.

"Of course you can, El," Arthur said, feeling oddly warm inside. Though he didn't hate children, neither would he usually take an immediate liking of them. Maybe it was El's open-hearted acceptance. Or maybe he'd spent so much time with Stephen he's becoming sentimental too.

Stephen smiled, so obnoxiously bright and happy that it crossed his mind to kiss him just to wipe it off his face. If only they were alone.

Eldar wriggled out of Stephen's hug and ran toward his parents, announcing, "Mama, Papa, did you hear that? I'm going to carry Uncle Fen and Uncle Arthur's rings!"

"You'll be the best ring-bearer, baby boy," Eka said, making the little boy beamed with glee.

El seemed to take an immediate liking of Arthur that he climbed to the man's lap while they were preparing to have dinner.

"El, why don't you come here and sit with Mama?" Leony asked, giving Arthur an apologetic look.

Arthur had never babysat kids before, but he said, "It's okay, Leony," and pat the little boy's head.

"Uncle Arthur?" El called him in the middle of dinner.

"Yes, El?"

"I tell you something," El whispered conspiratorially. "Uncle Arthur made a good choice!"

Arthur cocked an eyebrow at this apropos. "And why is that so?"

El giggled. "Because Uncle Fen is reeeally nice! I  _looove_ Uncle Fen."

"I love him too, El. A lot."

"Uncle Fen will make you happy," Eldar continued, "so you must make him happy too."

"I will."

"I know you will. I like Uncle Arthur too!"

Stephen had asked him if they would adopt someday. Having a much younger brother, his other half had always liked children, but Arthur had been ambivalent about those little creatures. He'd always avoided the topic whenever it was brought up. But seeing El's pure and unconditional acceptance, he thought that maybe, after they get married, they could adopt.

"What are you smiling about, Uncle?"

"Nothing, El. Just very happy."


	4. Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Now I get to wake up next to the most amazing woman ever every day."
> 
> "Good for you. I have to wake up next to the most annoying person ever."
> 
> Eka/Leony; the morning after the first night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much sap. Very cheese. I blame Eka. Sex is very much hinted. The consensus is that Leony would've insisted on waiting until marriage, since she's close to her eldest brother who's a priest (Julian and Keenan don't give a flying fuck). How Eka manages to go celibate for her is... something that is vaguely explained with his focusing on building his business plus The Power of Love or whatnot.

He woke up earlier than she did, and he took his time marvelling in the sleeping form in his arms—a previously unknown territory he'd spent the night exploring, getting lost in the hollow of her neck and drowning in the waves of her hair, mapping every curve and edge and claiming all of it as rightfully his.

He placed a kiss on the crook of her neck, at the red mark standing in stark contrast with pale, soft skin, as he did at the heat of the moment last night. This time without lust and possession, but soft and feather-like. Almost like an apology, or an adoration.

He moved on to peppering light kisses all over her face—her forehead, her cheeks, along her jawline—but not her lips, reserving that for when she stirred and opened her eyes.

"Morning,  _wife_." He liked the sound of the word, the comforting ring to it, the promise of a lifetime together.

"Have you brushed your teeth," she mumbled into the kiss, still somewhere between sleeping and waking.

"Uh..." Expect a dentist to complain about oral hygiene first thing in the morning. "No."

She grumbled—something about morning breath. He only chuckled and planted another kiss on the top of her head.

She nuzzled into his warm, broad chest, while he breathed in the scent of her hair, a sweet, musky fragrance that had come to mean comfort and home to him.

"How did I get so lucky?" he mused. "Now I get to wake up next to the most amazing woman ever every day."

"Good for you. I have to wake up next to the most annoying person ever."

His grin only grew wider. He looked so content—so in love.

She hated to be sentimental, but the adoring look in his eyes melted her a little.

Morning breath be damned, she decided, and leant for a kiss. He sighed happily as their lips met.

She placed her hand on his cheek, tilting his head a bit to deepen the kiss, and he put his hand on top of hers, wrapping his fingers around her slender, delicate ones. Never once he doubted the strength of this kind, beautiful girl who chose him of all people, but he still found it unbelievable that she chose to trust him, of all people, with her vulnerability.

"How are you so amazing?"

"Flattery doesn't get you anywhere."

"How about this?"

Beneath the sheets, he dragged his fingers up her thigh. He chuckled, watching her mewl helplessly.

"It does, then. Shall we continue with last night?" he asked with the most innocent voice he could muster, as innocent as was possible with his fingers still teasing her.

"Ah—maybe we can brush our teeth first?"

"I don't see why I need to do it when I'm planning to get my mouth dirty anyway." He laughed. "But if you insist..." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Revisiting this after reading Bule Rasis' posts, I realised that I involuntarily portrayed them like a typical big Caucasian man/small Asian woman couple, which kind of put me off? They're completely consensual, though, and even if Leony _prefers_ being physically submissive due to her personality she'd have equal emotional control as Eka does. It's just an unfortunate coincidence that they happen to fit an... unwholesome stereotype.


	5. Reverie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes she thought everything unbelievable, against all expectations, including her own—but the touch of his lips against her skin was a proof that this was not a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An exercise in self-indulgence. In defence of Leony's ambitiousness: her dad is Chinese and her mum is an ob/gyn.
> 
>  _[Rêverie](https://youtu.be/Hdj147NcjS0)_ , composed by Debussy, is one of the most famous solo piano pieces. The title is French for "daydream".

Since they found out that they were expecting, she had been ambitiously devoting herself to ensuring that the baby not only grow healthy, but also intelligent (He attributed to her Chinese side.) She developed a habit of talking to the baby and reading to it, both in Indonesian and English and sometimes even Mandarin. He, too, became used to doing so. It turned out that he was a capable storyteller, adept at adopting different register and voices for different characters.

She also took to listening to classical music, and even got the upright piano at her parents' house (where no one played it anymore since she, their youngest, settled down and left home) moved to theirs. The black apparatus now sat in their living room like a reliable old guard.

"Listening to a digital recording is different from hearing someone playing it," she expostulated when he, out of curiosity, asked if the thousands of Bachs and Beethovens on YouTube was not enough. "Besides, exposure to diverse sensory stimulations is good for brain development," she continued, unconsciously rubbing her barely showing bump as she spoke.

He did not object to her bringing the instrument to their place. They had space for it, and besides it pleased her. He liked pampering her, but never got to do it much. She disliked being coddled—tired of a lifetime of being cosseted and guarded in her privileged childhood home, longing to be independent, to be depended upon—and so he used her pregnancy as an excuse to spoil her.

Every evening, he came home to her playing for their baby.

There was a certain calculated grace in the way her soft, slender hand moved, the way her long fingers fluttered and danced about the keys, precise as a metronome, weaving each individual sound into a harmonious whole. He had assumed her preciseness to be a product of training and experience in her occupation, but maybe long before that, they were already practiced by the long hours she had poured into the piano.

She was too preoccupied to notice him, so he waited and watched and listened, enchanted by the careful caresses she lavished on the instrument, as though engaged in an intimate conversation with an old friend, and entranced by the dreamlike ambiance the melodies filled the room with.

He didn't know anything about music, or any art form for that matter, but he thought her playing could be an art in itself.

The music tapered to a quiet resolution and concluded in a hushed chord. She turned and found him standing behind her, arms crossed in front of his chest and lips curving upwards forming a smile.

"You never told me you're good," he teased.

"My skills are quite rusty, actually," she replied, characteristically self-deprecating. "But at least I didn't reach Grade 8 for nothing."

"I don't understand classical music, so everything you play sounds like a Beethoven masterpiece."

She shifted in the piano seat, signalling him to sit next to her. "Beethoven is the only composer you know."

"Hey, I'm not that uncultured. I know Bach and Mozart too, and Tchaikovsky." He sat next to her, circling his left arm around her waist. "What was it called? The song."

She leant into him, her head resting against the crook of his neck. " _Rêverie_ , by Debussy."

"It's beautiful." He took her right hand and pressed kisses on her fingertips, each reverent and impossibly tender.

Sometimes she thought everything unbelievable, against all expectations, including her own: that he wanted to be with her as she wanted to be with him, that he fought to be with her, that they were finally together and expecting a child—but the touch of his lips against her skin was a proof that this was not a dream.

She sighed contentedly and closed her eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The description of her playing is from _his_ perspective, so obviously he would be biased.
> 
> Have a deleted scene.
> 
> —
> 
> "Would you do me the honour of having my instrument played with your fingers? I know the sounds I make are hardly music, but they'll please you the same."
> 
> "Did you just ask me for a _hand job?_ "


	6. Faith and Reason

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He had never shared nor related to her convictions, but they had comforted her in life as in death.
> 
> He could at least take comfort in that.
> 
> —
> 
> At his mother's grave, Evren contemplated on her faith. Future fic.

He and his brother were brought up in the religion of their father, and his father before him—and none of them had been devoted. But his mother had always held on to the faith of her own father and mother and her childhood, then and all her life, until the hour of her death; the faith echoed by the hymns sung in churches and the rites that bound her to its hundreds of years of tradition.

Mama's faith was very much like herself—quiet, but self-assured. One of his earliest childhood memories was of him sitting on her lap while she was working, observing the things she neatly kept on her desk: documents and records and family photos (one of she and Papa on their wedding day, one of Mama and Papa and him—Eldar was not yet born). There was a cross next to a thick, old book with a black leather cover, which he later found out to be the Bible.

Once, he had asked her why she believed—why, when they shared their coolly rational mind and an utmost respect for the empirical.

"If I doubted, Evren," she answered, "it's not a sign of the absence of God, but of my inability to understand Him."

Logic, she said, however potent, was limited, and people who chose to live by faith and not by sight do so because often, the most wonderful things in life were miracles that defied all senses. He listened, but did not pay attention. At least not until years later, after he understood that when she said miracles she was referring to him, Papa, and El—to their family she and Papa had fought so hard for.

He had never understood her convictions, but they had comforted her in life as in death.

"And you will seek the truth," the epigraph on the tombstone read, "and the truth will set you free."

He could at least take comfort in that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The verse is from John 8:32.
> 
> I'm pretty sure Evren is irreligious, or at least very secular and liberal in his thinking, even since his childhood. Leony and Eldar are low-key religious. Eka is definitely not religious.
> 
> I'm always intrigued by how the religious dynamics in this household work. It doesn't make sense that the kids follow their dad's religion since the dad is irreligious, but I can't imagine Leony not being Catholic, nor Evren and Eldar not raised Muslim.


	7. Third Time's a Charm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evren's first three words, in order, were Mama, Papa, and Jiejie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Evren is 7 months old. Most babies don't talk until they're about 9 months, but he's a child genius.

"Look, Evren! Uncle Jie is here," Leony said to her son, bouncing him on her lap.

"Hi, Leony. Hello, Evren," Miko said, as he took Evren into his hands. He lifted his nephew (he's practically a part of the family already) into the air, making the little boy giggle. Evren was larger and heavier than Miko remembered, and his hair was thicker. So babies did grow up really fast.

"You're getting bigger and bigger every day, buddy."

"He can say Mama and Papa already," Eka boasted when Miko returned the child to his mother.

Miko sat himself opposite his friends, wondering when did Eka suddenly become so... paternal. Maybe when a child was born, his parents were also reborn into new individuals named Mama and Papa.

"He can talk already?"

"He's a fast talker," Leony said fondly. She pointed at herself. "Evren, who is this?"

"Mama!"

"And who is this?" asked Eka, referring to himself.

"Papa!"

"So smart, Evren." Leony kissed her son's forehead, then indicated at Miko. "Now who's that?"

"Papa!"

"No!" Eka wailed, sounding and looking tragically hurt and betrayed. "Papa is here, Evren. That's Uncle Cece."

Evren's babbles sounded confused.

"Uncle Ce... ce," Eka repeated.

"It's _Jié_ ," Miko remarked, emphasising on the correct tone of his name. "I'd rather be Papa than Cece."

"Maybe Evren thinks you're also his Papa because you're here too often," Leony commented, clearly amused.

Eka circled his arms around her and their son, glaring at Miko. "I'm not sharing Evren and Leony with you."

"Too late, already on my way to steal your wife and kid and maybe house."

Evren, still prattling, squirmed and pointed at Miko's direction.

"You want to sit with Uncle Jie?" Leony asked. (Did parents magically learn their babies' language? Miko thought.) "Okay, okay, go."

Evren toddled from the sofa to the table to Miko.

"Guh."

"Hello to you too." Miko lifted him and sat him on his lap. "I'm Uncle Jié, Evren. Can you say Uncle Jié? Ji-é."

Evren made sounds which Miko interpreted as attempts to pronounce his name. After a few repetitions, the toddler finally managed a "Cheh cheh."

Miko beamed. It's not quite what he wanted, but the kid had got plenty of time to learn. It's good enough for now.

"Did you hear that?" he asked his friends. "Say it again, Evren. Jié-jie."

"Cheh cheh," Evren repeated.

"Oh, Jie! You're his third word!" Leony exclaimed. Eka, laughing, his arm around her waist, kissed his wife on the cheek.

"I'm as important as Mama and Papa," declared Miko, feeling a warm, fuzzy feeling spreading inside him. He had never felt so important in anyone's life before. "We're best friends, right, Evren?"

"Cheh cheh!"


End file.
